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Procession escorts ex-Navy SEAL Kyle to burial

Published on NewsOK
Modified: February 12, 2013 at 5:37 pm •
Published: February 12, 2013

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — After a 200-mile journey, former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was buried Tuesday in Austin as his family members and fellow SEALS looked on amid the sounds of drums and bagpipes.

Supporters of Chris Kyle line up along the southbound lane of Interstate 35, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, in Waco, Texas, for his final journey to Austin, where he will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery. Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield were shot and killed Feb 2. at a North Texas gun range. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

A giant Texas flag flew at half-staff over the Texas State Cemetery as Kyle was laid to rest. Kyle, considered to be the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, was killed along with a friend earlier this month while at a North Texas gun range.

A white hearse carrying Kyle's flag-draped coffin was among 200 vehicles in a procession that left Tuesday morning from Kyle's hometown of Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas, to travel to Austin. Many motorists pulled to the side of roads to watch the procession that included motorcycles, motor coaches, police cruisers and other vehicles.

It briefly came to a halt when three motorcycles in the procession went down just north of Austin, sending two people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said Belton police Sgt. Larry Berg. He said Navy SEALs in the procession rendered first aid until authorities arrived.

"Heroes on duty and heroes off duty, certainly," Berg said.

Larry Key, one of about 100 Patriot Guard Riders who gathered for the event, said he came in tribute to Kyle's service. Kyle, 37, completed four tours in Iraq and wrote the best-selling book "American Sniper."

"It's our way of honoring Chris and his family," said Key, a Vietnam veteran from Denton.

In Austin, hundreds of people gathered on roads stretching nearly a mile from the cemetery. Many who came to watch the procession were combat veterans in leather jackets who parked their motorcycles three wide around the permitted area of the gravesite. Others were businessmen in suits on their lunch break from the nearby Capitol, families with strollers and at least one jogger taking a break from an afternoon run.

Mike Lamb, 24, stood about a half-mile from the cemetery wearing a mustard yellow Marine Corps shirt and holding a sign that read, "Fair Winds and Calm Seas Frogman! R.I.P."